By studying bumblebee exposure to particulate air pollutants scientists at the University of Leicester have determined that the diversity and behaviour of the bee gut microbial community is altered when exposed to black carbon found in air pollution, disrupting the beneficial bacteria that live there.

When seawater penetrates concrete in road tunnels, a biofilm is formed that breaks down the concrete. This can lead to high costs and the risk of damage if stone and concrete drop from the tunnel roof.  In a new study, led by a team of researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, research reveals the mechanisms behind the degradation, and its unexpectedly rapid progression.

In a paper published in National Science Review, an international team of scientists reports dramatic, reversible p-n switching during the semiconductor-to-semiconductor phase transition of BiI₃ under pressure. They propose a novel method for determining carrier polarity based on the self-driven photocurrent dominated by the photothermoelectric effect. The study further reveals the correlation between the switching of positive and negative photoconductivity and the carrier type under high pressure.

Satellite data and artificial intelligence, researchers have mapped two crucial forest fire risk indicators—canopy base height (CBH) and canopy bulk density (CBD)—with an impressive resolution of 100 meters.

Recently, a research team from Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, published a groundbreaking study in Ultrafast Science, demonstrating a novel Full-Aperture Grating Compressor (FAGC). This innovation overcomes critical limitations in traditional 4-grating compressors and provides key technical support for achieving single-channel 100-petawatt (PW) ultra-intense ultrafast lasers, a milestone in extreme physics research.

In the past several decades, significant progress has been made in controlling molecular chirality, as evidenced by the several Nobel Prizes in chemistry awarded in this area, particularly for advancements in the asymmetric catalytic synthesis of molecules with central and axial chirality. However, the exploration of new types of chirality has been largely stagnant for more than half a century, likely due to the complexity and challenges inherent in this field. Prof Li and Liang’s groups at Texas Tech University present the discovery of a novel type of chirality—staircase chirality.